Seven Sins, One Choice
by TowerRaven13
Summary: Once upon a time the five Guardians galiantly defeated the Nightmare King. But all did not end happily ever after. For the power emmited by Pitch in his last battle had awakend a creature far more inhuman, more mad with pure beastial hunger that when it woke it hunted him down in a frenzied chase of despiration. But honestly, how can you blame me when nightmares taste so sweet.
1. Sloth

Pitch Black scrambled desperately across the pearly mass of ice and permafrost known as the North Pole. He felt as if no matter how fast he ran he could never move far enough forward. He knew it was a risk coming here of all places but what choice did he have? To be hounded down and perused like a fox in the hunt with the famished jaws of a thousand hell hounds snapping at his mangy tail? No, he couldn't! He had already been running and diving through foxholes far too long now and he couldn't avoid it any longer. If he didn't surrender to those who were once his enemies his fate wouldn't be worth nearly as much as he'd like it to be. He hated it but he was desperate. He needed sanctuary, even if it was a jail cell.

The fallen king could feel the icy atmosphere being smothered out by the excited pungent breath of his pursuers, poisonous with the carnality and fire of the chase. What were these unholy and demonic savages that hunted their pitiful prey with all the zeal of a pride of ravenous lionesses? What demonic stygian devils would whoop and howl with laughter as they jabbed and jested at their stumbling game, occasionally falling back just to prolong their cruel diversion as the maddened cries of the subject of their enjoyment echoed hollowly off the glassy cliffs like the untuned pealing of tarnished church bells?

Some would assume the excommunicated shadow man was the satisfaction of his own ebony inventions, the candle eyed war horses which had, no more than three years ago, thundered across starless skies, trampling dreams under hoof in one lividly colossal stampeding cavalry. Yes the erotic deadly beauties which had turned on him like Frankenstein's Monster would be anybody's first guess. But sadly the shadowy mares had all vanished, become extinct, and fallen prey to a much greater evil.

It started slow at first, the steeds dispersing one by one to continue feeding off of other hosts from above the earth's crust. But after a while fewer and fewer came back to hound him until one day he was alone. It was as if the emptiness of space had simply swallowed them up. But no, something else had, and now it was after him.

Pitch panted as he staggered down an enormous frigid dune of biting silver powder, snow whipping through the air like the grit of a desert dust storm as he tumbled head over heels down the slope, rolling like a pinwheel until he crashed face first at the bottom. As quickly as he could, Pitch scrambled to regain footing in the loose snow banks, but it wasn't easy.

The glacial wind whipped the snow and ice into his eyes, making him squint with bleary vision. His feet would occasionally falter and break through the slopes, taking him even longer to reach his destination. He couldn't feel anything; pins and needles pecked his legs continuously and his flesh had faded from its usual grey to an unhealthy and startling shade of icy blue.

But then again it was hard to tell, the moon shone so brightly upon the whole scene that the entire world appeared to have been painted from the same palate. Everything shone like an ocean of alabaster bleeding veins of white gold and was showered in crystal making the pole look like some sort of twisted winter fairytale that promised to hold him gently in its lovely down blankets and sing him a lullaby on flutes of arctic wind as the snowflakes danced their ethereal ballet around him, kissing him gently with venomous ice so that they could keep him all to themselves, forever. How nice that sounded.

Pitch Jolted as he felt something startlingly similar to talons nearly miss his foot. No! What an idiot he was! In his wandering reverie he had slowed down! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! But he couldn't help it, he was just so tired and weak, his stomach felt light from hunger and yet his body was as heavy as lead. And the moon, oh yes the moon; ever since he had entered the pole it had taken up arms, trying it's best to push against the dreaded invisible forces howling for his blood, and no doubt if not for his old rival's mercy he would have been a dead man long ago but damn if it's light didn't surround his eyes like a cool translucent veil and make him want to surrender to his fatigue and just collapse in the soft chilling snow.

Yes, the moon wanted him to live, desperately from what he could tell. But in the pit of his stomach he just couldn't help but hate it for that! It made his pride hiss like a two headed viper. But he had no time for pride now. He could feel his legs quivering beneath him and feel the hunger of his huntsmen bearing down on him as a blaring chorus of hyena laughter urged him forward.

Pitch risked wiping his once sleek now ragged black sleeve over his eyes but it was no good, his vision was beginning to blur around the edges like frost creeping onto a window pane, the only thing that he could still make out, clear as crystal was a large flickering yellow star over the horizon.

Pitch almost stopped in his tracks with realization and newfound hope as his foggy mind remembered that stars didn't flicker, nor were they so large and yellow.

About a hundred meters in front of him, just over the next snow drift, standing proud and hearty on the edge of an icy cliff was a window belonging to the home of the one man Pitch black never thought his accursed pride would ever allow for him to willingly go to for help.

Nicholas St. North.

Pitch let out a startled shriek as he felt a pair of large angry jaws of something he didn't dare give so much as a glace rip into the hem of his ragged cape. The rest of the pack was just behind it, if Pitch didn't do something quick it would all be over. He closed his eyes, summoning the last of his strength as he made one final gamble and melted into the weak, sickly shadows of the night before tumbling out just short of the goliath workshops front door.

He laid there, half his face in the snow and unable to get up, he had used all of his strength and he hadn't even managed to get inside. The creatures surrounded him, snapping and growling at him in victory as they circled their reward like sharks in bloody water. His vision was much worse now; all he could see was shapes and shadows as if he had opened his eyes underwater. His fuzzy vision soon revealed what seemed to be a large, burly, red figure bursting through the doors in front of him, yelling loudly in a thick robust accent. He couldn't tell what he was saying though. His hearing was just as bad as his vision; like he had cotton shoved in his ears. What he could tell was that the figure which his mind was too tired to put a name to was driving the creatures back away from him, warding them off.

As he watched the blurred bruise colored pelts of his oppressors disappear from his peripheral (for he could not turn his head). A stomach churningly familiar voice slithered its way into his skull, whispering in a lulling tone so sickeningly sweat that it didn't even try to hide its true intensions as it spoke a broken rhyme that he knew was meant only for him.

**_Run, run, run as fast as you can. I'll catch you soon enough, my little shadow man._**

At this point pitch's mind was too unfocused and weary to understand much of what was going on around him. All he could see was the snow beneath him which sparkled like silver stardust in the moonlight. With the last of his strength pitch gently combed his fingers through the cool powder before fisting it lightly and uttering out loud a final coherent thought.

"Pretty"

Everything went black.


	2. Pride

** AN: Ok so usually after i post a chapter i'm going to continue editing it for about 10 min because i'm not used to the formating on this site and if i don't keep going back to fix the format it looks very unatractive. So PLEASE if you have any tips for making the format look less ugly; tell me. (PS: i use copy paste)**

* * *

Slowly Pitch began to pry himself out of the tenacious hold of slumber. His senses returned to him one by one.

Sight; his dreary vision gradually came into focus, revealing a mas of clean, white sheets pressed close to his face as well as a window, just out of focus.

Scent; The room smelled of sanitary equipment.

Touch; he lightly griped the cotton material he was laying on. Pitch moved his head though his stiff body protested. His joints relinquished an array of musical pops and cracks as he began to shift around.

Taste; his tongue was heavy and bland in his mouth and his lips parted as if they had been sewn together for three nights.

Hearing; slowly the cotton in his ears began to dissolve and the muffled sound of conversation beyond the door of the room trickled into an array of familiar voices. They were standing just outside the door.

A particularly loud yell sounded out; _"You brought him here? Inside! But why?"_

_ "I had no choice, he was half dead and surrounded!"_ North.

A third voice chimed in accompanied by a continuous fluttering noise. _"Surrounded? Surrounded by what?"_

_ "I don't know. That's why I brought you all here, to make sense of this"_

A voice far younger than its companions piped up _"Well what are we waiting for let's find out"_

Slowly the door eased its way open to reveal the five Guardians of Childhood before the room was overtaken by silence. They were not expecting for him to be awake, nor for him to be staring right at them with dimly glowing metallic eyes when they entered. The silence remained for several more seconds.

"Pitch" North nodded his head, addressing the shadowy skeleton that rested on the infirmary bed. Pitch weakly returned the nod as he gradually pulled himself upright, sheets falling to reveal his bare chest. The others remained just as still and silent as before; however upon seeing the marred and emancipated flesh of the one they once feared some noticeably flinched at the sight.

Pitch looked down at himself. He had ragged purple burn marks and crimson ribbons painting his ashen flesh, all surrounding a single crescent shaped stain in the white bandages wrapped around his middle. His skin was like fabric fitted tightly over a wire frame.

Pitch brought a finger to the bandage that concealed the dried bloody ring of flesh, pulling it back gently to reveal the large needle pricked bite mark that had begun to yellow around each individual indent. His face contorted into a fearful grimace as he remembered the creature who gave him the wound.

"Pitch you must tell us what happened, and more importantly; what those _things_ where and why they were at the pole." North insisted.

Pitch didn't look up from his own tarnished form, once feather like raven hair now hanging limply around the crown of his head. His chest looked like a covered bird cage and his heart beat weakly from within the bars. He removed his finger from the soiled gauze before looking up hollowly at one figure in particular.

"Sandman" he lifted his hand from the sheets, beckoning his old rival to his bedside. Hesitantly the small dream giver glided forward before floating up to be level with the nightmare king although still not fully trusting of the man who almost destroyed him several years ago. Pitch stared at the perplexed golden man with faded eyes.

The shadow's cheekbones had become hollow and the flesh around his eyes was thin and dark as if someone smudged charcoal all around them, not only that but what little color the man had was gone. His skin was no longer a storm cloud grey but had faded to more of a white ashy color. Even his eyes no longer maintained their catlike amber shine as they had instead become the color of yellowed parchment.

"She's back" The golden dreamer tilted his head to the side, brows crinkled together to show that he didn't quite understand. Pitch sighed, bowing his head once more. He couldn't blame sandman for not remembering, he himself had pushed the very memories of said 'she' and the havoc she wreaked into the very darkest and secluded crevices of his mind in hopes to wipe it from existence.

Pitch looked up once more, eyes set in a more serious glare as he uttered the name he had never wanted to hear again. "Baku."

At this sand man lurched backwards, colliding with the wall behind him in his shock. His eyes were as big as dinner plates as they met pitches, hoping for any sign of trickery or plot but the nightmare king's face was set in hard serious line as he stared back into the shining eyes of the Sandman.

"Sandy? What's going on?" Bunnymund took a tentative shift forward.

The air above Sandman's head erupted with an array of designs and symbols that disappeared like lightening before being replaced with a new firework of dust. He was trying to say too many things too fast and it only confused his friends more.

Sandy's shoulder was caught by the crook of a shepherd's staff before the display above his head finally fizzled out, leaving the little man silently out of breath as he left the room in a flourish of unsettled dust. Jack stepped forward. "What's a Baku?"

The shadow man looked each of them over once more, a bout of nervousness overcoming him as he questioned whether it would be a good idea to tell them in case they changed their minds about offering him a temporary sanctuary. Pitch shifted in the bed, wincing as he adjusted his position so that the weight of his body rested on his hip and he could face the group more easily.

"Baku was another dream spirit from the time before most of you existed."

Sandy reentered the room, carrying a thick book labeled in calligraphic scrawl;

**_The Abridged History of Spirits and Demons_**

**_Volume III_**

The tiny man formed himself a pedestal from his dust before he began wildly flipping through the pages, coming to a stop at a rather strange Japanese brush style painting. Jack, Bunny, and North crowded around the leather book while tooth hovered above it uneasily.

Pitch continued, pointing to certain parts of the text or miscellaneous caricatures that appeared in the book alongside numerous Japanese symbols and phrases.

"She was born in Feudal Japan to assist Sandman with his dreams, but unlike him or me she didn't create anything. No, her job was to eat away the bad dreams in children's minds along with her…" he paused. "-little helpers." Pitched finger roamed over to the brush painting.

It was a bizarre creature. Small and compact like a wolf, and yet its body resembled a tiger's, complete with a coat of unkempt stripes. Said coat was a purplish color and grew out into the locks of a lion's mane, circling the neck and the crown of its head. The animal had beady eyes and a long, elephant like snout that was curled against its forehead to reveal a set of long ivory tusks in both the upper and lower jaw which curled ferociously around its muzzle.

"It's the creature from last night." North commented

"Not very handsome blokes are they." Bunny mumbled.

"And they're more vicious than they look too. They've been hunting me for days but no matter where I went I was only just able to get away, even the center of the earth wasn't safe for me." Pitch looked down at his hands murmuring the last part more to himself than to anyone else. He gritted his teeth as he venomously seethed his next phrase "That's why I had to come here."

"Wait just a second" tooth fluttered right over the injured king, pulling back the bandage that concealed the needle stab bite mark which had begun oozing a dark wine colored liquid again.

"I know teeth better than anything and therefore I know that nothing with tusks like those could make a bite mark like this."

Pitch Shuddered; both from the fairy's closeness as well as from the memory of when the needle like teeth latched onto his skin. He wished the Dream Hunters had made that mark.

"The tusked creatures aren't the ones did that." He mumbled more than a little uncomfortable with how close to his face the bird woman was hovering. "Baku did"

North's gruff voice spoke up. "I do not understand how she could be so terrible if she had helped Sandy in the past" The little golden man replied by glaring at his friend with a very serious expression.

"She didn't exactly work with the Sandman it's more like she fed off of our work like a sort of parasite, although a more pleasant one than she is now."

"But what happened to her." Jack had decided to perch on the footboard of the bed.

Pitches expression darkened.

"What happened was that she discovered that she liked eating fear and bad dreams just a little too much, and that just coming on rounds or whenever someone called for her to eat their nightmares couldn't satisfy that hunger. Soon enough she started to come when her own needs suited her, finding out that neither the Man in the Moon or Sanderson would stop her if she did."

"After that she decided to move up from hunting just fear or nightmares to consuming dreams and chasing their creators down herself. Sandman was powerful enough to chase her off but fear is what she was made to devour. It was the only time in history that Sandman and I agreed to work together. My magic didn't work on her and Sandman's could only make her drowsy to slow her down."

"Well, what did you do?" the group watched the two rulers of sleep intently.

In a flourish of golden sand the likeness of a magnificent bird not dissimilar to a peacock formed over Sandman's head.

"A phoenix." Tooth breathed. "You used a phoenix feather to strengthen your dream sand and put her to sleep."

Jack wrinkled his nose in curiosity "Wait, aren't phoenixes those fire birds? What could a sooty feather have done?"

Tooth fluttered over the bed in front of the boy. "Jack phoenixes are very rare creatures. Not only that but they're creatures of pure magic. Any sort of magic, whether it's good or bad mixed with a phoenix feather will reach its greatest potential."

Bunymund's ears flattened against his head upon hearing the full story "Alright, then who's to say we can't wait until this Baku spirit finishes His Royal Highness off first and then stop her."

"Bunny!" Tooth scolded.

"Trust me, you don't want to do that" Pitches voice was hoarse from over exertion and his head was beginning to throb from too much excitement too soon after his recent chase.

"What in the world makes you think we would even consider trusting you?"

The pooka pulled himself up to his full height, towering over the hospital bead. And yet Pitch smiled. It was a tired smile but a smile filled with sarcasm and dark glee none the less. In that very moment Pitch looked more like his old self than he had through the whole duration of his pursuit because he knew something the pooka didn't. Even his eyes retained their amber glow for a few moments.

"Because of what happened to the children whose good dreams were eaten instead of their nightmares."

Tooth's face filled with apprehension as she once more zipped over to face the nightmare king. "Why? What happened when they woke up?

Pitch chuckled at her naïve comment as he looked up at the fairy queen, hair hanging in his face like a tangled mane over tarnished gold eyes, emphasized by the dark smudged circles around them which gave off the illusion of coins set in the empty black eye sockets of a skull as he murmured back.

"They didn't"

Tooth flitted back several feet until she was sitting beside jack at the foot of the bed in disbelief. Slowly she turned to look up at Sandman. His head was hung solemnly and he looked tired, more so than usual but this wasn't the typical pleased drowsiness the dreamer often held. He looked weary and the fairy queen could just barely make out the beading of unshed, metallic, mercury tears brimming the corners of the usually joyous man's eyes.

"Then there is no time to waste, we must stop this before it starts. Even if Sandy cannot defeat her alone she won't stand a chance against all of us" North hollered.

"A thousand years ago; yes. Now none of you will stand a chance against her."

Bunnymund wiped out one of his boomerangs. "What's that supposed to mean."

"It means that last time she didn't have any of my special Nightmares to feed off of and she did this time." The Boogeyman sighed in frustration, gritting his teeth. "Not that it matters now that they're all gone and she wants me."

Bunnymund's ears flattened. "Well if you're what she wants why don't we just give you to her."

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea; give the carnivorous maniac more power and an invitation to feed off of other spirits why don't you!"

"You know, we could always just use you as live bait."

"So you can hide in your hole when the wolf comes out, little bunny."

"No, so I can kill two birds with one stone, and as memory serves; _you_ were the one who ran three years ago."

"Enough!" An icy blast blew the two away from each other, causing Bunnymund to hit the wall and the bed Pitch was still lying in to slide at an odd angle. Jack stood between the two spirits now, eyebrows set in a hard line as frost blossomed out from where he stood.

"Both of you, there's no time for this! Pitch what was that you said about your Nightmares giving her power and all being gone now."

"Exactly that; Just like how my Nightmares made me more powerful, devouring them did the same thing for her and now there aren't any left" the pale figure groaned out as he nursed his newly bruised side.

"What about that phoenix you were talking about, Tooth?"

The fairy fluttered nervously. "It's like I said before Jack they're rare. It was probably hard to find one in the first place, wasn't it Sandy?" The little man nodded. "Not to mention that there are even less now than there were back then, we'd have to be in at least a thousand places at once to…" The fairy trailed off.

"Tooth?" North questioned, but before he could step any closer the feathered woman was out the window and half way across the pole with only a quick "I have to go!" to warn them.

"Where's the sheila think she's going?"

North replied in a gruff tone. "It does not matter. What does matter is that we find the location of one of these fire birds and stop this Baku spirit. Bunny, Sandy; you two follow me to the library. Phil!" North turned around to address the large fury creature that had been peeking through the slightly open door. "You take care of Pitch and as for the rest of you; get back to work!" the entire factory of abominable snowmen who had been idly listening behind Phil began disgruntledly trudging back to their work places.

Jack began to follow the three remaining guardians out of the room before being stopped by a rather large arm with the word _Naughty _tattooed onto it. North bent down and began to whisper.

"Jack I want for you to stay here and watch Pitch."

"Why? He can't do anything like that." The youngest guardian murmured back.

"Jack, Please."

The white haired boy was about to retort but upon looking into his elders pleading blue eyes he surrendered with a sigh.

North patted the frozen child on the shoulder before vanishing through the thresh hold. "Good luck Jack."

Jack sighed once more, turning around to see Phil changing Pitches bandages as well as applying a pungent herbal smelling salve which made the pale man wince.

The shadow man turned towards Jack as if he had felt his eyes on him making Jack shiver a little. He didn't necessarily like Pitch but due to the circumstances he couldn't exactly just get rid of him, even if some of Bunny's suggestions had sounded tempting. But children's lives were at stake, weren't they? The Boogeyman said that they never woke up but that was a little vague, except for the factor of Sandman's reaction to those words. Jack had no choice; he was just going to have to grin and bear it no matter how much he disliked the spirit.

Jack strolled back into the room, filigree footprints trailing behind him in the wood as he perched atop the bureau that sat across from the bed.

"What do you want?" Pitch growled as Phil cleaned his wounds with a stinging salt water cloth.

Jack chose against saying any of the snappy remarks forming in his head.

"Is she really that bad; this Baku lady?"

Pitch sneered. "She's not a lady; she's a blood thirsty glutinous monster who cares for nothing but herself and gorging on the misery of others. If she can make me willingly come to you repulsively delusional babysitters you can assume the worst. If I had my way I'd be avoiding you like the garish plagues you all are."

Jack scowled. "Well you're not exactly the most pleasant person either. After all; if you hadn't made those Nightmares she probably wouldn't have woken up or become as powerful as you said. Besides you don't have a choice because compared to us you're too weak to defend yourself."

Pitch stared up at him from the bed with hawk like eyes, breathing out an incredulous laugh.

"Looks like it didn't take too long for being an _all-powerful guardian_ and having _hundreds_- no let me guess; _millions_ of believers to go to your head, not that you were very modest before."

"I'm not full of myself; I'm just not so keen on the idea that only three years ago you tried to kill me and my friends and gave all the children nightmares!"

"And what would you have done if you were in my position! What would you have done if the world not only ignored you but also _hated_ you?" Pitch shouted eyes full of hatred and malice.

He laid back down, still glaring at the boy as he spoke in a more neutral tone.

"I have my own personal reasons for doing what I did three years ago, Jack Frost and I don't regret any of it. Besides; what do you know; you yourself are merely an ignorant child."

"I am not." Jack growled.

"You are too and the slowly declining maturity level of this conversation proves it." Pitch smirked mockingly.

Jack mumbled just loud enough to himself for the Boogeyman to overhear. "At least I'm not bitter and alone."

Phil whined like a kicked puppy, uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere in the room.

The remainder of their time spent together that day was spent in silence with the third party of the room expertly applying excessive amounts of tonics, herbs, and magical treatments to his reluctant patient until even the ugly ring of needle marks had magically been diminished to a mere discolored crescent.

Jack on the other hand having absolutely nothing productive to do what so ever began freezing and frosting over anything and everything within reach until icicles began dangling from the rafters.

He had seriously begun pondering whether or not he should waste the energy on making an ice sculpture when an iridescent little face popped in front of him with a loud chirp.

"Baby Tooth, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Tooth?" the shining little bird hybrid merely replied by buzzing around his head and giving him a playful peck to the nose before landing in the palm of his hand.

"Baby Tooth, you remember Pitch Black, don't you?" the white haired sprite asked playfully, gesturing to said monochrome man with an impish grin.

Baby Tooth puffed up, a noticeable angry pout on her tiny lips as she zipped over to the hospital bed and began chirping and squeaking loudly right in the man's face.

Pitch bared his small pointed teeth and gave a loud _chomp_ right in front of the fairy's own little face which she replied to by giving off what might as well have been a scream and hiding behind the shoulder of larger and even more familiar fae who was entering the room through the window.

"Tooth, you're back! Where did you go?"

The fairy queen painted as she replied. "I found it. I know where the phoenix is."

Jack could hardly control himself as he went flying down the hall alongside Tooth towards the library shouting for the others. Meanwhile pitch had decided to follow by vanishing into the shadows with his regained strength while Phil wasn't looking, which was quite a surprise to the big yeti.

When Jack and Tooth did reach the library half of the books which used to be stacked neatly on their own shelves were now neglected on the floor in big piles around three dreary guardians.

Jack touched down and ran over to the three, shouting as he cantered towards them.

"Guys, Tooth found it, she knows where the phoenix is!" at this the researching trio perked up and began firing questions like "Where?" or "How?"

Tooth flitted around her four male counterparts as she explained happily.

"My fairy's travel all over the world night in and night out so I figured one of them had seen what we were looking for or if not I could ask for them to keep an eye out. It turns out that one of them did see something that looked an awful lot like a bird a long time ago on the top Mt. Fuji."

Bunny hopped over the wall of books he'd been growing. "Well that's it then, let's go"

"Great so we're trying to find a magic fire bird on top of a volcano. That's right up my alley." The white haired boy grumbled sarcastically.

"Relax Jack. Mt. Fuji hasn't erupted in years and besides; it's snowcapped most of the year." Tooth reassured.

"I can deal with that." Jack admitted.

"We will take the sleigh. As for you-" North pulled a mostly healed Pitch Black out from between two shelves and began dragging him by the arm through the workshop and towards the sleigh room getting some very funny looks from the elves and yetis.

"You are coming along."

"What?" The baffled shadow cried in unison with the others.

"We need someone to keep us informed on the enemy."

"What about Sandman?" Pitch had twisted himself around so much in the Russian's grip that he was now being dragged along the ground on his bare back.

"Sandman must stay behind to protect his dreams." Pitch cocked his head uncomfortably to look back and see sand man waving at him by the door cheerily, a large sardonic grin on his face.

"North, do you honestly think that this is a good idea." Bunnymund persisted.

"I'm with bunny on this one." Tooth agreed while jack was just dumbfounded and desperately trying to form coherent sentences.

"Of course it is not a good idea but it is the best idea we have at the moment. Besides if we leave Pitch alone Baku will find him and we cannot risk having an unfamiliar enemy get the advantage." Upon the last line North one handedly lifted the grey man up into the air to prove his point.

Pitch finally managed to wriggle out of the Cossack's grip; none too pleased about being picked up or called 'the advantage' as he shouted.

"Look; as entertaining as climbing up a mountain half naked with the people I hate most sounds I'm going to have to agree with your comrades and decline."

North bent down until he was nose to nose with the charcoal specter, speaking in a harsh tone.

"First off; you are too weak to even hide behind a book case properly, Shadow King. You need us. Second; none of us like you either so man up. And third; you are coming with us weather you like it or not, so either you can ride in sleigh with us or I can strap you to the backs of one of my reindeer."

North turned around and continued towards the stables, leaving pitch wide eyed with his mouth slightly a gape. North addressed the man once more when the doors had been opened.

"Oh, and as for the _'half naked' _part-"

A black mass of fabric was thrown into the Nightmare King's face which upon removing the Boogeyman realized that it was his old cloak good as new. The grey man looked up at north incredulously, jaw still dropped slightly in disbelief.

"The yetis can sew." The Russian stated simply as the remaining four guardians made their way towards the bright red reindeer drawn sled. Pitch Growled in reluctant submission as he struggled to pull the repaired robe over his head and walk at the same time, smoothing everything down nice and flat as he eyed the carriage, suspiciously starting to back away.

"Oh no you don't you blighter." A grey paw grabbed him roughly before pulling him into the strange vehicle. "If I have to ride in this thing then so do you."

Before Pitch could reply he was catapulted backwards into a seat between the Frozen boy and the rabbit by the sheer acceleration of takeoff. The great and feared Nightmare King couldn't help but shriek a little bit, making the Aussie next to him suddenly a lot more comfortable with the idea of flying.

* * *

Meanwhile deep in a jungle of gnarled trees and thick bamboo was a crumbling red temple. Under the gables carved figure heads of bizarre tusked creatures with spiral manes stood guardand upon the crimson doors were hung tattered prayer flags which waved in a wind that smelled strongly of fresh green tea.

The smell only got stronger inside the fallen sanctuary where at first glance a single woman sat enjoying her fresh brew. Those with keen senses however might have noticed the thousands of beady eyes staring out at the woman as she poured the earthy concoction from the clay teapot and into the small cup where loose tea leaves swirled and floated idly under a haze of serpentine steam.

The woman didn't look obscure in the slightest. She had black almond eyes, a flat nose, and the inkiest silk strand hair you would ever see which was braided neatly into several knots before allowing the back half of her tresses to cascade neatly down her back underneath the wide brimmed, dish like straw hat which sat snuggly atop her head. All of which were quite common considering the section of the world she resided in. She also carried a traditional fabric folding fan which she kept in front of her mouth when she wasn't drinking the soothing concoction she had made through dark purplish lips.

When the woman had finished her cup of loose leaf tea she put down her fan and inspected the beverage's remaining contents, rolling and turning the cup between both palms as the corners of her full maroon lips tilted upwards slightly, a quiet chuckle bubbling up from her throat as she began to talk to an unseen companion.

"Well it looks like my little shadow has some people looking out for him and they've found another phoenix on Mt. Fuji, have they?" The woman stoke with an expected eastern lilt as she once more laughed softly at some private joke.

At that moment one of the pairs of unblinking eyes emerged from the darkness to reveal a creature coated in coarse bruise colored fur with dark tiger stripes running down it's back and sides like spilt ink before forming a thick, curly lions mane surrounding a long, elephant like snout which sniffed the air and wavered from side to side like a snake over its ivory gleaming tusks. However the woman did not seem to be startled or even notice the beast which snarled like a cross between a wild boar and a bloodthirsty wild cat.

The woman simply continued to stare at her small clay cup, not even flinching as the creature crawled into her lap and began to sniff it curiously. She began to speak again, stroking the creature like a beloved tabby cat as it let out a startling parody of purr which sounded more like a crocodile's reptilian growl.

"Soon my love." She cooed sweetly. "Just look at him though. I'm surprised he's managed to pick himself up so quickly." For a moment the black marble eyes of the woman shrank into small, crescent pupils surrounded by irises the color of fading yellow leaves. Soon enough however the pupils dilated back into their solid obsidian spheres.

"Magnificent" she murmured. "He's like a game animal; so wild, so desperate; a black lion." She smiled a little wider this time, the very beginnings of small white canines as well as a few other fine points could be made out from between the purple lips before she covered them with the fan once more. The snout of her obscure pet had almost childishly wrapped around her other hand and once more the large, threatening bowie knife tusks did not affect her.

"Wild animals are meant to be hunted and caught, aren't they my sweets." A chorus of guttural snarls responded from the darkened corners of the temple's interior as the woman stood slowly. She poured out the remaining tea into the ground and placed the set into the long white sleeves of her kimono. The creature which was as tall as her hip tugged on her violet obi belt as she straightened the straw hat over a pair of what appeared to be small deer antlers extending from her hairline. The creature followed her out the tilted threshold of the abandoned shrine.


	3. Envy

Finaly done with the thrid chapter. i tried to upload it yesterday but it looks like FF was playing anb April Fools prank on me and refreshed the page right before i was about to save the doc. Oh well, better late than never and remember, constructive criticism is welcome, and followers are received happily. Enjoy 3

* * *

Pitch's long nails were embedded in the wood by the time they reached Tokyo. A thousand blinking lights sparkled from the rigid black skyline, making the stars appear dim in comparison. He could hear all the lively roars from the city below them as they flew towards the large snowcapped mountain, moon hanging just above its peak like a guiding beacon. Pitch could just imagine the lunar man laughing to his heart's content about his current situation; speeding recklessly towards a dormant volcano in the sleigh belonging to one of his most hated foes while two others who were also on the list rested on either side of him.

Frost was standing on the very ledge of the sled, whooping and hollering in childish glee as the wind tousled his silvery locks. The rabbit however seemed nervous about flying as well, although he could have sworn he saw the giant rodent smile and relax whenever he gave a startled noise or tensed up. It was obvious the bunny was enjoying his terror and reluctance which gave Pitch just another reason to imaging killing him slowly. The Tooth Fairy never could sit still for long so it was pointless for her friends to have even asked her to ride. Instead she flew alongside the stomping reindeer with her obnoxious little look alike who had seemed to insist on coming.

The only thing pitch dreaded more than the monstress that pursued him and spending any amount of time with those fools was what came afterward. After all was said and done would he be locked away? Destroyed? Killed? It didn't matter, he would escape and wait to regain his strength to challenge the guardians once more. And next time he would win, wouldn't he?

Pitches thoughts were interrupted by what at first he thought to be the sound of thunder, except for the fact that it was peculiarly shrill and the air for some bizarre reason smelt of green tea, incense, and musk. The last one might have been the snorting creatures that drew the sleigh but for whatever reason the nightmare king decided to look back the way they had come.

Pitch jumped out of his seat at what he saw behind them. Quickly he stumbled towards the white bearded driver and began to yell over the roaring winds around them. "You have to make this thing go faster!"

The large Russian laughed heartily. "I did not think you would enjoy the ride. Do not worry; we will be there in no time."

The grey man grabbed North's shoulder, making him look behind them as he spoke.

"No, you have to go faster because of them!"

The Guardians looked back to see a colossal cloud of sweetly smelling smoke over shadowing the entire city and rapidly thundering towards the small crimson sleigh with the sound of thousands of livid snarls and squeals as vicious boar like monsters stampeded towards them out of the plum colored cloud. And from the center of the fray emerged a fiery war chariot, trailing thick purple wisps of the smoky perfume. It was drawn by two Dream Hunters far larger than the others and in its carriage stood a woman in white. She was vigorously cracking a whip to urge her hunters forward, gripping a pair of reigns in the other hand. The woman had a pair of razor deer antlers entangled in her hair and a pair of fiery eyes stared directly into the Nightmare King's own golden globes.

North immediately understood and began snapping the reigns of his own steeds as Bunnymund and Jack stood battle ready. Toothiana slowed down until she was side by side with the sleigh driver. "North, do you have my-" Before she could finish the burly man grabbed an ivory saber from his sack and threw it into the air for the fairy queen to catch.

"North always delivers." The Russian winked playfully as he once more cracked the reigns, pulling out one of his own broadswords.

Tooth zipped over to her two other companions. "Jack, you come with me to meet them. Bunny, defend the sleigh with North."

Jack leapt off the back of the sleigh, allowing the wind to catch him flying beside Tooth as they zoomed towards the thundering army. "I didn't know you were a swordsmen, Tooth."

The feathered woman only grinned back at the white haired boy as the bloodcurdling snarls grew louder. "There's a lot you don't know. I would have used them before but North was repairing them in his shop and having a few difficulties." She yelled over the roar.

The first wave of beasts stormed towards them in fury. Jack brandished his staff, sending a lethal surge of glacial ice towards the Hunters and freezing some of them into lilac mist while he was rushed by several others. They clawed at his hoody and he had to beat them off in a flurry of snow to free his arms from the snapping jaws. Tooth was zipping from legion to legion, slicing through the charging beasts while another pack of them chased after her. A large portion of the herd had already reached the sleigh and the two riding it were hardly able to keep the swarm at bay as the creatures rammed into its sides and scraped at it with their vicious teeth, leaving large gaping slices in the metal. Jack and tooth tried to keep the rest of the army away from the sled but more and more rushed past them. Jack twirled his staff in front of him like a propeller, successfully forming a wall of ice and wind while tooth sped past its gaps with a sharp flourish of her ivory saber.

Jack was about to throttle another blow when his hand was caught by the curl of a whip and he was dragged into the cloud of smoke, towards a golden chariot. The woman in front of him smiled sweetly with her dark lips as she looked up from under shadowed eyelids. "So you are the famous Jack Frost. I must thank you for weakening my prey for me although I do prefer a challenge. Unfortunately I can't let you get in the way of me and my king."

Before Jack could do anything the woman reeled him in close enough to see that her eyes weren't solid black like he thought at first but a coppery yellow color with small hungry pupils and dark inkiness where the whites of her eyes should have been. Baku Parted her orchid lips and gently blew a sweet haze into the boy's face before releasing him and vanishing into the mass of snorting animals. Jack wavered in the sky as he made his way back towards Tooth, the constant howls blaring in his ears. He felt light headed as he realized that tooth was also slowing down in the purple fog. "Tooth, we have to get out of here, the mist is trying to put us to sleep." The Fairy Queen nodded as the two sped as quickly as they could towards the damaged sleigh, beating off its attackers the best they could.

"We are going down!" North informed.

"Well then do something about it!" Bunny was holding one of the snarling creatures at bay while it gnashed its teeth around his boomerang, trying to get a bite out of both him and the Nightmare King.

"I cannot simply 'do something about it'. Half of the engine is torn off and the reindeer are panicking!"

Pitch Summoned as much strength as he could and formed a weak ball of nightmare sand in his palm before throwing it over the city below and making it burst like fireworks. The creatures chased after the globes of darkness, biting and fighting each other for them as they sank into the city. "That should only keep then distracted for a few minutes. We're close enough to the mountain to land at least half way up."

"I thought you said you didn't have any more of that stuff." Jack slurred as he slumped down onto the floor next to a stumbling Tooth.

"I said there were no more Nightmares. I still have a little sand left; I was just saving it for a rainy day."

The sleigh lurched once more as it collided with a speeding chariot. Baku's hair flowed wildly in the wind around her sharp horns like a mane. She smiled kindly at the Nightmare King as the whip lashed at the yoke that connected the reindeer to the sleigh, ripping them from their harnesses. The broken sleigh tumbled down towards the mountain like a shot bird before crashing into a ledge and forming a large crater.

"Is everyone alright?" North groaned huskily. Several other noises of discomfort rang out in reply.

"Looks like it." Bunny was currently pinned under the flipped sleigh and was using his powerful feet and hind legs to kick the smoking, banged up sled off of him.

They had landed just halfway up the mountain on its jagged, earthy, shrub covered surface. Tooth was desperately trying to fight the pull of unconsciousness while Jack could only blink slowly and shift around from drowsiness. Bunny pointed towards the growing haze in the sky. "Look! She's coming towards us." he readied his weapons for another fight.

"There's no time for that. Everybody get down." The nightmare king rushed to grab the guardians before pulling them into the shadows with him.

Moments later the gleaming chariot landed next to the wrecked sleigh and the ink haired rider stepped out. Two of her Dream Hunters had followed her, the rest had become distracted in Tokyo city. The creatures sniffed and licked the sleigh, inspecting it curiously. Meanwhile their mistress did much the same thing, breathing in deeply as a small coal black tongue flicked out from her purplish lips as if to taste the air like a serpent. She sniffed and breathed in her surroundings several more times before addressing her hunters.

"They were here but they left. There's no trail so they probably teleported to another part of the mountain. They couldn't have gone far, now fetch your brothers and search." With a flourish of her hand the snorting creatures dissipated into mist and yet Baku stayed, continuing to taste the air around her as she closed her eyes, walking startlingly close to the shadow Pitch and the Guardians were concealed in. She stayed there for another minute, hovering over the very spot that The Nightmare King was hiding in before her form faded into a cloud of fragrance and was carried away by the wind.

Pitch threw himself and the others out of the shadows. The Guardians gasped for breath, not used to blending with the darkness, although even pitch was slightly short of air from hiding several people when he was still regaining what little strength he had left.

"Looks like you're not as weak as you let on and I can't believe I'm saying this but; thank the moon for that!" Bunnymund coughed.

North bent down next to Tooth and Jack, examining them carefully. "Jack is out cold and Tooth is fading fast. We can't continue without them."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Pitch growled with discontent.

"Yes." North said firmly.

Pitch rolled his eyes sighing dramatically. "If you insist."

The shadow man began scrutinizing the various mountain shrubs and grasses, every so often mumbling; "no, that's not it" or "It's here somewhere." Finally he made a sound of triumph as he ripped out a small bulbous root, brushing away the dirt before breaking off two smaller bits and handing them to North. "Give them those." He commanded rudely.

Despite the high and mighty order North decided to follow Pitch's instructions, but not before examining the bite sized herbs himself. He sniffed one curiously. "Ginger?" he pondered before slipping the first shred past Toothiana's supple lips. She was still partially awake so she was able to chew the fragment of root before sitting upright upon tasting its sharp flavor. Jack was a little more difficult but eventually he too awakened with a start.

"How did you know that would work?" bunny sniffed the root in pitches hand warily.

"I've been in that position before. When a crazy woman is chasing you down you don't get naptime so you learn how to keep yourself awake. It turns out that ginger is just common and strong enough to overpower the witch's perfume. Personally I never thought that it suited her anyway." Pitch smirked egotistically. "It looks like you precious reindeer have wandered off and crashed you're sleigh, North. Anymore bright ideas?" The Nightmare King called.

"We still got my tunnels. It'll be faster anyway." Bunny thumped his foot against the stony ground and for several moments nothing happened. Bunnymund repeated the action several times before he began wildly beating the ground with his hind leg in frustration.

"Apparently not, Thumper."

"Would you just shut up! Your sarcastic comments aren't helping, we're already on the mountain so we don't have to protect you anymore and judging by how weak you already are; you won't last five minutes on your own and you know it!" Bunny began furiously studying the ground. "And why aren't my tunnels working?" he growled.

"The phoenix must be interfering with some of our magic." Tooth zipped over to bunny before hesitating with her next choice of words. "Pitch, how much power have you regained."

Pitch glared at the nervous and flighty guardian, catching her double meaning with malice. "My shadows aren't strong enough to actually teleport me anywhere save a few meters and I can't do much more with them than that so there's no need to worry your pretty little head, Your Majesty." He hissed.

"We will have to hike the rest of the way" North's gruff voice rang out. "Splitting up is a bad idea." He began trudging upward and over the jagged mountain rocks, leading the rest of the guardians.

"We'll never be able to make it to the top." Pitch argued grimly. "Maybe if you had been willing to bring Sandman, but in our current state Baku will be picking us out of her teeth by sunup." Pitch dodged around the rough terrain.

North growled. "Bunny was right; you are not helping anything."

Pitch shouted at the red man in a condescending tone. "I didn't want to help in the first place."

North turned his head back at the shadow as he continued to trek forward. "You came to us because you needed someone to help you fight this Baku demon."

Suddenly pitch was right by North. "No I didn't! I didn't have any intention of fighting anything what so ever" he yelled.

North roared back with just as much force. "Then why did you come? Why did you run to us?"

"So that I could live to rise against _you_ another day!" all fell silent as the two once more found each other face to face.

North spoke in a hard neutral tone. "You will never be able to defeat us and you know it."

"Then I will attack you tooth and nail until I finally destroy myself." Pitch paused, face shadowed. "I made that promise long ago. I thought my time had finally come three years ago." His voice suddenly broke into a series of chuckles. "But I endured the beatings and torturous voices inflicted on me by my own Nightmares. I endured being forgotten and left in the dark for thousands of years-" The laughing intensified. "-Like a child's play thing while you four basked in glory and light." Pitch's lips were pulled up snugly around his pointed teeth in a wide Cheshire smile, gleaming like tiny daggers. "No. No, I won't be brushed under the rug that easily." He straightened himself, still grinning madly with malice from ear to ear. "Now if you _mighty guardians_ will excuse me, I might not be strong enough to teleport but I'd rather not associate myself with any of you." He made a mock bow before quickly dissolving into a visible silhouette beneath the scarce foliage, gradually sliding over the mountain's surface like a black river set in reverse.

"Well, he's just about as pleasant as I remember him being three years ago." Jack exclaimed.

Tooth flew upward, urging the others to continue. "There's nothing we can do about it for now. We just have to keep moving."

And so they did. wearily hiking up the mountain save for two flying guardians and one inky shadow that slinked alongside the group like a wild jaguar, almost out of sight but just visible enough to make them feel cautious. By the time the moon had climbed to the very peak of the midnight sky the travelers had made it another quarter of the way up the mountain and all five of them had begun to slow from the pain of creaking joints. Even pitches silhouette had begun to flow less like a black river and more like oozing tar.

"We gotta take a break" Bunny slumped down onto his hind legs.

"We can't just stop. We still have to make it to the peak, remember?" Jack protested.

"We also have an enemy hunting us and if she finds us we can't risk being weak. We must save our strength." North joined bunny on the ground.

"I'll start a fire." Tooth suggested. She had begun bending and pulling on the few trees around them until not only were they concealed from sight but she also had a small nest for herself. "We'll take turns keeping watch until midnight passes.

* * *

Jack woke with a jolt to bunny jostling his shoulder and mumbling out a drowsy "Your turn to keep watch, mate." The frost spirit massaged his eyelids as he took in the sight of his napping companions; North and Bunny were already passed out and emitting guttural snores while Tooth was curled up over his head, her wings fluttering ever so gently as she slept. And then he spotted a tall, thin silhouette standing erect against the speckled light of the stars.

_ 'Pitch is still awake? Has he just been standing there like that the entire time? Geez that's creepy.'_

Jack glanced at his resting companions once more and then back at Pitch. His back was facing the group so at least he hadn't been watching them sleep. He thought back to the infirmary. Pitch had obviously improved since then but he couldn't help but remember how pathetic and desperate he had appeared. Jack picked himself up from the ground and crept towards the black, towering man until he was right behind him. If the Nightmare King knew he was there he didn't show it. He just stood there, still enough to be glanced over if you weren't looking for him.

"Aren't you tired?" Jack murmured just loud enough for the shadow man to hear.

Pitch remained still as he answered.

"Night is when most of my work takes place, why on earth would I sleep during that time?" He stated with annoyance.

"Well you don't have to watch the skies like a hawk."

Jack couldn't see it but Pitch was wrinkling his nose with distaste. "Well sorry if I don't exactly trust you fools to be your most observant at these hours."

Jack sighed in exhaustion. None of this was helping anything. "I'm sorry for what I said in the infirmary, alright."

Pitch turned slightly to face him. "And why exactly would you apologies to me when it's obvious we both want nothing more than to skin each other alive?"

"Because like it or not; none of us are going to survive if we keep antagonizing each other." Pitch chuckled humorlessly as Jack sat down on the ledge next to him. "I'm still not a child though." The frosted spirit looked up at the shadow with a defiant pout.

"Compared to me you are." The Nightmare King scoffed.

Jack dangled his bare feet over the ledge and pressed his cheek to the wood of his staff. "Oh ya, exactly how old are you anyways?" To this pitch gave a genuine laugh, bubbling up from the back of his throat in amusement as his gaze drifted down to the guileless frozen boy.

"Well can you guess how old the moon is?" Jack wrinkled his eyebrows in disbelief.

"You're not that old, are you?"

"No" Pitch admitted, causing Jack to slump his shoulders in slight disappointment. "I'm even older, I was chasing him down when he was still an infant." He retorted with a grin.

"No way, geez you really are old." The teen joked. "So you've met him then, in person?"

"Not really, he was still just a child so I have no idea what he's really like now." Pitch turned his cat like eyes up towards the glowing pearl. It hung in the night sky as if it was sewn into the rain drop speckled veil of space. "Why taking such an interest all of the sudden Frost, or have you forgotten that we're enemies?"

Jack stayed silent, just staring up at that milky globe as it drifted through the heavens. His hair flowed around his face in stardust tendrils and his eyes barely blinked, although they flickered and swayed like blue candle flames as if he was reading a story written in the swirling currents of space. He stayed silent for quite some time. "Have you ever wondered-" He started softly. "-what it's really like up there. It's so big, and everything down here is so small."

Pitch looked down questioningly at the boy; he hadn't been expecting a comment like that. "You've lived for such a short amount of time and yet you seem as if you've had forever to think about such things."

"Isn't that how being alone is; you think about strange things like that to pass the time?"

"I suppose." Pitch murmured back. "And you're right; it is big, vast even. I remember most of it."

The silence returned.

"What were you like before this?"

"Again with the personal questions, are you always this annoyingly curious Frost?" Pitch questioned, irritated.

Jack gazed up with bright blue eyes that held the Boogeyman's reflection like Venetian glass. "I guess I'm just wondering how you could enjoy doing what you do, sorry if I don't see the fun in it." he pouted. It took several minutes of Jack continuously staring at pitch with wide, unblinking eyes for the shadow man to realize that he was still waiting for an answer. He sighed.

"For your information; I have no recollection of whether I even had a life beyond this and I have no interest, nor the intention of finding out." He stated flatly.

"Why?" The young guardian looked up in surprise.

"Because this is who I am!" The dark man snapped. "I don't need any memories of the life I had before to tell me otherwise, I won't change just because of something that happened in the past."

"Why?" jack said, more aggressively this time as he stood on the very tips of his toes to face the nightmare king.

"I can't change what I was made to be and I won't either."

"Then maybe this isn't what you were made to be."

"What then." Pitch sneered, leaning in close to intimidate the smaller immortal.

"That's your job to find out, not mine, but whatever it is, it can't be worse than hiding in the dark with only yourself as company. I know that much."

"It's not that easy" Pitch replied.

"No, it's not." Jack agreed. "I'm sorry. You're right; I ask too many questions" Jack turned to head back to the fire pit. "And you were wrong back in the infirmary; the reason you're alone isn't completely because you're hated, it's because you're too blind to let anyone get close to you or to think about anybody but yourself for once." Jack left pitch on the ledge, pondering what exactly the frost spirit had been trying to say.

By the time Jack returned to the camp, the fire had been smothered to the point where not even a smoke ring hung in the air and the others were finishing the work of covering their tracks. North glanced at Jack before letting his gaze flicker to Pitch, discretely alerting the young guardian that he had heard their conversation before signaling to the others that it was time to continue their hike. Surprisingly pitch decided to remove himself from the shadows, grumbling about saving his powers for more dire situations.


	4. Greed

_I know; I'm a horrible person and I deserve to be drawn and quartered. And you're all going to hate me even more once I tell you that I can't upload __**ANYTHING**__ until the end of summer due to the fact that I'm going on a cruise to Hawaii, and then off to summer camp. I promise that I'll finish this when I get black. Plus, I have some other ideas for FF including, a possible one shot as well as a project I've been contemplating for a while. As always constructive criticisms is welcome and feel free to enjoy._

_P.S. does anyone have any idea on where I can find a good plot chart for the show Once Upon a Time that shows all the characters connections and important plot points? I'm kinda lost._

* * *

The wind had grown stronger as they worked their way up the jagged rocks. Luckily it was a friend of Jack Frost and nudged the party upwards with playful gusts.

"This is good" Pitch shouted over the howling. "Our scent won't be caught as easy. How much longer before we reach the top do you think?"

Bunny sniffed "We're close from what I can tell, mate."

Jack was ahead of the group and bounding from stone to stone as quickly as he could, looking back at his friends every so often just in case he needed to slow down. He was just about to jump up a mammoth ridge when a few stones dropped from over its edge along with the soft pad of hooves. "Hey, guys." He called back softly, gesturing towards the ledge with his crook. Slowly, Jack crept towards the top of the ridge, staff at the ready before he leapt over its top, prepared to fight and out the Guardian's view.

Pitch slinked back towards the shadows, prepared to merge with them if needed while North, Tooth, and Bunymund formed a defensive V, all eyes were on the ledge. A head of frosted spikes and a pair of glee-filled lightning blue eyes flashed over the ledge as Jack brought his voice down to a whisper.

"Hey, you guys have got to see this."

With that, Jack's face was once more consumed by the ledge, giving his companions no choice but to follow. When they reached the top, they were greeted with the sight of Jack offering his hand to a small inquisitive creature which barely reached the immortal's knee. It was covered in iridescent green scales and had a feather-like mane surrounding a single tree branch antler. The delicate creature bleated and bumped its head into the frost spirits cool palm, picking its way around the stones with the legs of a fawn and all the docile demeanor of a newborn lamb. Despite the thing's gentility, Pitch decided to give it a wide berth, whereas the guardians were all crowding around it in awe.

"A Kirin, I've heard about these little blokes." Bunnymund went to scratch the creatures chin as it gave another lambish bleat.

"We're almost to the top, we can't waste our time on that animal" Pitch growled.

Jack looked up. "What's your problem?"

"Kirins just don't get along with spirits like me. Besides, we only have until nightfall before Baku starts hunting again." At this, the small animal bunched up like a box spring, before ricocheting off the ground and onto the rocks above them as if its feet were made of rubber bands. It gave another _baaa_ before continuing to bound forward.

Tooth buzzed to her feet. "I think it wants us to follow." They all began to climb after the effervescent creature.

"Then we shouldn't listen to it, we've wasted enough time already." North gave pitch a heavy smack on the back (something that was meant to be friendly but ended up shaking the poor man off his feet.)"Who knows, maybe the little fawn is leading us to a shortcut." The Boogey man had no time to argue; before he could open his mouth there was a vigorous whoop of delight from up ahead. He then realized that the terrain before them had begun to turn white and any shrubs or grasses that they had seen before were now gone under a blanket of fresh snow.

The Nightmare King shuttered slightly, remembering how he had been chased through the pole until he couldn't even feel his legs. He had never felt more vulnerable. Tentatively, he stepped forward, feeling the powder sink under his weight. There were no shadows ahead.

Meanwhile Jack was having a blast just flying around in the snow and playing with their springy guide. The wind was stronger than ever now and almost seemed to lift the guardians off their feet (those who were using them anyway).

"We must be really close." Pitch hadn't noticed the fairy fall back beside him, she could hardly fly right in the wind and her mini doppelganger was restricted to clinging to her queen for dear life.

"Apparently so." Pitch huffed; not enjoying the fey's company.

"I heard you and Jack last night."

Pitch tried to hide his astonishment. "I don't know what you're talking about, you must have been dreaming."

"I wasn't asleep; in fact I don't really sleep at all, come to think of It." there was a pause, Pitch refused to look at the bird woman.

"It really is scary you know; I always knew Jack was special, but hearing him talk with you so comfortably- I can hardly believe it."

"If you're concerned about me harming him you've apparently forgotten my current, humiliating state; secondly: if you're so worried, then maybe you should keep a closer eye on your charge!" he trudged forward, growling.

"I'm not accusing you of anything; in fact I'm offering a truce."

Pitch stopped dead in his tracks, silent.

"And why would you offer me such a thing?" despite the rough winds urging him upwards, he stayed rooted to the spot.

"For whatever reason, Jack trusts you. He's trying to help you and therefore, I want to help him."

Pitch attempted a dry laugh but couldn't find the motive. "Help me? What on earth makes you think that little brat is trying to help me? In fact, why would he- no, why would any of you help me unless you got something out of it."

"Maybe he thinks this is your second chance, maybe he thinks there's some kind of good in you; I don't know but I trust Jack's judgment." She dropped to the snow; it was too difficult to hover in front of the Nightmare King in these winds. "And from what I heard last night, the most unusual thing wasn't what Jack did, it's the fact that you listened, and for a moment I almost could have sworn you enjoyed talking to him." And with that, Toothiana continued to zip towards the mountain top, almost leaving Pitch to contemplate what she said if it hadn't been for- **_BAM!_**

Pitch Black couldn't understand why he had a face full of snow until he heard the childish laughter from above.

"Hey, Pitch, you're falling behind slow poke. Keep up why don't you!"

Pitch hissed, practically melting the snow around him with the pure heat and anger he was radiating. "You little brat, just wait until I get my hands on you!"

The impish youth cocked his head to the side as he perched on top of his staff, like some giant white sparrow.

"Geez Pitch, I get that you're stressed and all but having a little fun wouldn't kill you." He grinned ear to ear as he spoke, toying with a flurry of snowflakes and breathing into them, gently before they formed another solid lump of glistening, silver snow.

Pitch bristled up like a cat. "Frost, if you so much as think about-" **_wham!_**

Pitch wanted to scream and roar in fury, but found that he couldn't. Deep down inside his very gut, something was bubbling to the surface, spreading warmly through his diaphragm and filling his body with the most pleasantly warm feeling he had ever encountered, almost as is his veins had been injected with pure starlight. The feeling shot up his esophagus until it reached the back of his throat, where it took all his strength and will power to hold it until he was sure his face was red. But this _thing_ he just couldn't contain it anymore; finally he released it, letting it fly from his throat with all the force of the wind behind him. It took Pitch until he was out of breath and there were tears in his eyes to realize that this _thing_ was a laugh. When it was finally gone, Pitch was bent over from loss of breath.

"Wow."

Pitch looked up to see Jack Frost only about twelve inches away from his face, eyes wide from curiosity.

"I have never met anyone who needed a laugh _that_ badly."

Pitch regained control of his voice and fixed the snow spirit with the most murderous glare he could muster, the fire in his eyes burned with a new light.

"**_Frost._**" He let out an animalistic growl. "_I will end you!_" and with that the Nightmare King rushed into the shade cast beneath the troublesome boy and knocked the child off his feet, staff rolling downhill about a yard away. Jack sat up in fear before being shot down again with a cold blow to the face. It wasn't until he lifted his hand to where he'd been struck that he recognized the painfully familiar projectile that had hit him. He looked up to see The Boogeyman grinning at him from across the snow, a ball of freshly packed flakes being tossed up and down in his hands.

"Oh it is on, old man!" In no time the serene snowy mountain top was transformed into a field of war, snow and ice flying through the air without any sign of stopping, all while three pairs of eyes up ahead watched in astonishment.

"Am I mistaken or is this really happening." Bunny whispered to North, who for whatever reason had begun to chuckle softly, big blue eyes twinkling a little brighter than before.

"Perhaps the children are not the only ones that can be saved on this journey."

Bunnymund's ears stood straight up in surprise but before he could question North there was an urgent bleat from ahead. Tooth zipped towards the Kirin only to gasp out in joy; close enough to fly to in less than a few minutes was the mountains peak. She shrieked in excitement, bringing Jack and Pitch out of their battle, and North and Bunny towards the ridge.

The toymaker let out a bellowing laugh of joy when he laid eyes on the peak. "HA HA! See I told you the little doe would help us, and its only noon too!"

Pitch leaped for the edge as quickly as he could to see for himself and laughed for the second time that day (not as powerful as the first but just as joyous).

"We have to get over there now. Jack, Tooth!" the two looked towards the shadow man. "Fly over there and come back as quickly as possible, time is of the essence!" neither of the two made any attempt to argue with Pitch for ordering them around, Tooth left just as swiftly as she had come and Jack gave a small mock salute, shouting a joking _'Aye Aye, captain!' _before he too was off.

"Now" Pitch said. "All we can do is wait."

* * *

Tooth was the first to reach the peak and find the large, rocky crater. Strangely enough, their new little Kirin friend had decided to join them. But the crater was hollow.

"I don't understand, it should be here, this is the peak." Tooth was whizzing every which way in confusion, circling the hole frantically. Jack jumped into the pit, feeling somewhat perplexed. He scoured the ground inside the dormant volcano, unaware of the creature approaching him or the darkening skies. It wasn't until a he heard the terrible hissing noise that Jack turned around; the Kirin was suddenly different from the gentle lamb he saw before. Its mane stood on end in large spikes and it was hissing like a viper in front of Jack. That horn looked a lot sharper now.

Jack barely had time to get out of the way before the Kirin rushed him, head bowed in a jousting position. But to his surprise the little animal swerved aside for him anyway and collided with something that gave a shrill squeal of agony. Jack looked up and saw skies clouded in sick purple smoke and small bruise colored elephant boars hiding in the rocks.

"Tooth, get down!" he screamed, sending a blast of frigid wind throughout the crater and forcing the dream hunters to scatter in a blare of shrieks. Tooth dodged her way around the vicious hunters and took out her sword, slicing through the beast's course hair. Jack tried to fly out of the hole but it was too late; hunters lined the top of the slope and the opening was consumed in purple sleeping mist.

The hunters swarmed down into the bowl from above, stampeding in a mass of roguish tusks and claws. This was even worse than their battle in the sky, Jack went to fly off anyway but the creatures pounced on him like attack dogs, dragging him down with their sheer weight and effectively grounding him while they clawed at his clothes with fishhook talons. There was a stampede of hoof beats and all the hunters were either thrown off or retreated. Jack looked up to see a whole herd of Kirin facing off with the dream hunters. Horns clashed with tusks and each animal charged at the other.

Jack then heard a very distinct _'baa'_ and noticed that the Kirin from before was nudging him towards the center of the volcano. Jack didn't have to be told twice. The wind rushed him into battle, where he shot arctic blasts of permafrost at all of the hunters he could get a clear shot at, careful not to get too close to the lazy cloud of fog over his head. While he was airborne he noticed two things; one, the hunters would dissipate into smoke at the slightest touch of the Kirin's horns, and that beneath the battleground the earth was beginning to crack.

Jack yelled at Tooth "Herd the Kirin out of the center, I have an idea." Tooth dealt another blow to a particularly ugly hunter before shepherding the Kirin away from the volcano's center. When their allies were far enough away Jack rose as high as he could and began summoning every last icy wind and flurry on the mountain, with that he dive bombed down towards the center, held out his staff, and aimed for the biggest crack he could find.

* * *

Five minutes after losing sight of the two, Pitch had a sinking feeling. The air felt thicker for some reason. He looked over at Bunnymund and notices that the rabbit was listening for something as well as sniffing the air tentatively.

"You feel it to" he said.

The rabbit paused before nodding. "We have to get over there."

No sooner had he said this than a dark cloud of violet began consuming the sky and the thunderous sound of a stampede rang out. They could vaguely see outlines swarming into the crater over the mountains surface.

North swore as he rushed towards the distant peak. "It was a trap! They'll never be able to make it out of there unless we reach them."

Bunnymund bounded after his companion, Pitch attempting to keep up with the speedy rabbit. "It's no use, mate. We're too far off and that fog is blocking our way."

"Well we must do something!" North stopped dead in his tracks before whipping around and ferociously gesturing towards Pitch with a dramatic _"You!"_

"What?" Pitch yelled defensively.

"You can get through the mist without falling asleep, you can get inside!"

"And go straight into the clutches of those hunters? I think not! Besides, what can I do?"

North looked at Pitch, voice gruff and confident. "Jack and Tooth will not let you be caught. I am trusting you, Pitch. And I am asking for you to do the same for us."

Pitch could barely understand and as soon as he thought of a proper response the volcano erupted to life. Not in flame or blistering heat, but in glacial winds and a rain of heavy hail that they had to shield themselves from.

Bunny looked at the other two knowingly. "Jack."

Pitch gave one last glance at North's unwavering eyes before making up his mind and departing through the shadows the mountain now held.

"How do you know we can trust him? Come to think of it, how do you know he'll be back?"

"He'll be back" North's face was stoic as he looked upon the volcano. "I feel it in my belly."

* * *

Jack grunted in pain as he crashed through the layer of volcanic rock and demolished the entire floor above him, crashing into another level of obsidian inside the volcano, hundreds of squealing figures tumbling down with him among the boulders and debris, being effectively crushed or vaporized under the intensity of the fall.

Jack landed roughly and yelled as he saw parts of the mountain plummeting down at him from one hundred meters above his head. He brandished his crook and formed a shield of ice just strong enough to shatter by the time the last stone had fallen. He sighed, feeling drops of cold sweat freeze on his brow. Actually, he was sweating a lot, and it wasn't just from nerves. It was incredibly hot down there and he could tell that the winds wouldn't be able to reach him any time soon.

The young guardian looked up at the maw of the pit. He could still hear the battle, though the scales were probably tipped in their favor and he hoped it would end soon. Jack wiped his sleeve across his brow, tempted to remove his hoodie but denying the idea. It was then that Jack looked around the pit, and what he saw brought him relief, joy, and anticipation all at once.

In the center of the pit was a gnarl of obsidian crystals sprouting from the ground and growing up towards the sun like gleaming, skeletal trees. And in the center of the sleek stalagmites was a light, a warm light that didn't flicker but made all his surroundings illuminate with the bouncing reflections that were cast by the dark lustrous minerals in a weird yet beautiful kaleidoscope. It didn't flicker but it did seem to throb like a heartbeat, either that, or _breathe_. Jack knew that normal fire didn't breathe or beat, therefore he knew, just _knew_ that he had found it.

Jack approached the nest of polished black spikes, noting that each one was as large as his entire body and looked sharp as a razor to boot. Tentatively, he positioned his head through the web of spears and looked inside. There was the phoenix. Its head was tucked under wing and it appeared to be hibernating, but Jack had never seen anything like it.

Every last one of the phoenix's feathers was an individual candle flame of a different color. He could see the skin beneath the down in some areas, shifting in cracks and patterns of what reminded him of magma. Its wings and tail feathers would have resembled a peacock's if they just weren't so alive. Flames of red, yellow blue, green and purple twined and danced with the crackle of a warm hearth. Jack had never really liked heat or fire but this fire bird was nothing but living light. It reminded him of the fireplace him and his family would sit by during blizzards.

The immortal teen brought his hand up to his eyes for a moment, the bird was amazing but the heat that it was emitting mad e his eyes sting and his face burn. All he had to do was grab a couple feathers without waking it and get off the mountain. Still, Jack wasn't so keen on petting a wild animal that was on fire. Those two things were bad enough alone and he didn't even want to think of them together, especially considering he was never good with high temperatures to begin with. Maybe it wouldn't burn, Jack thought. After all, it was magic. The immortal youth slid his hand through the black shards to test the waters but before he could get his hand all the way through he saw something in their mirror like surfaces.

Jack ducked down and around the nest of crystal just as they connected with a sharp, spark spitting blade, cutting his sleeve and part of his arm in the process. He staggered to his feet to once again see the elegant eastern woman in white standing before him. This time she carried both her whip as well as a crescent shaped blade.

"You!" Jack accused, raising his staff. The curious woman tilted her head to the side, wide bamboo hat casting strange shadows over her face in the fire light.

"In my country it is traditional to call a person by name or with a respective suffix; but I suppose _'you'_ would be expected since we have not properly been introduced." She did a stiff effortless bow. "I am Baku, otherwise known as the dream eater and I must apologies for my behavior earlier, but once one begins the hunt it is hard to control the thrill you get." Jack stayed silent. "You must understand, I have no true desire to harm you or your friends. All I want is Pitch Black and I shall never bother you again."

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Pitch told us about what you do to some of the children, and if you mean us no harm then why are you armed.

She dismissed the comment with the wave of a hand. "Merely a precaution. Why do you defend him so? From what I have heard he is your enemy, correct."

Jack snorted "Well in _my_ country we know how to pick our enemies, and right now you've found an enemy in both Pitch and us" The young guardian had begun to side step around the glinting nest of blades while Baku, casually copied his movements. "Besides, we know you'll go after Sandy's dreams too. We know that those children will get hurt. Pitch told us." He repeated each syllable carefully.

"Do you believe everything he tells you now?" She sighed and tipped the brim of her hat up to look at Jack. "This could have been so much easier for the both of us." She cracked the whip, striking the air around him as he danced out of its way.

Jack sprinted to the wall of the cave; spring boarded off its surface into the air, and fell back onto the floor with bruising force. Jack looked up the staggering tunnel above him and found that the wind really couldn't reach him at all. He heard another angry _crack_ and rolled out of the way so that the whip only managed to bite the floor right in front of his face. He evaded the third strike and shot a flow of ice that melted only a few feet away. Jack's wounded arm was snatched up in the whips coils, making him cringe in pain as he was dragged across the rough ground and towards a raised blade.

His thrashing body was released when a crisp _snap_ followed by a yell and a crash that rang out through the cavern. Jack untangled the constricting whip from his bleeding arm. The gash was irritated and raw. The immortal teen looked up to see the woman in white groaning against the far wall and in the middle of the room, by the nest stood none other than Pitch Black.

"I have no idea why I didn't think you would pull a stunt like this, Jack. At least you found what we were looking for." Pitch was interrupted when Baku stood with a breathless laugh on her lips.

"Now it appears I have two fools who over estimate themselves, how thrilling." She raised the curved blade. "Come now King of Nightmares; let us continue where we left off." She jumped towards the Boogeyman but only hit the volcanic nest, getting her blade lodged in the gnarled crystal. Pitch yanked at one of the ebony spears, stomping forcefully at where it met the cave's floor and freeing it from its confines. Wasting no time he swung it towards The Dream Eater, but she abandoned her sword in the stone and began clawing at him wildly. He deflected her steely claws with the crystal, scratching her once in the wrist and getting five long claw marks on his chest in return.

Pitch retreated into the ever changing shadows of the cave, flowing intangibly throughout the room and summoning the darkness to animation. Moaning hands reached for the woman in white and shady spikes projected from the earth, threatening to entangle and skewer Baku, who evaded the attacks and spat shots of violet sedative wherever the shadows moved.

Jack could do nothing but watch and attempt to get something, anything he did to work. He was powerless. What could he do? Jack glanced towards the obsidian nest and made up his mind. Taking a deep breath, Jack snuck to the side of the cave opposite the raging battle and skittered towards the nest. He crouched down behind it before raising his head and peaking inside through the crystal netting.

_'Oh _no' Jack thought as he blinked away the stinging water in his eyes. The phoenixes plumes had begun to take on a redder hue than before and the flames were beginning to lap higher and more rapidly at the surface of the nest. _'It's waking up!'_ Jack wasn't about to let their journey up the mountain be in vain, so without thinking he let his un injured hand strike inside the gap and clamp firmly down on a long, writhing tail feather.

A shriek rose past his lips like the cry of a train whistle. His arm felt like it was consumed in dripping, molten metal. Fire was burning through his muscles, scorching his veins, and spreading throughout his entire body. Beneath him, two coal black eyes awakened and began to burn white hot. A long neck rose fiercely out of the nest with a deafening caw and two enormous wings spread throughout the space of the cave, flames licked the walls and sparks flew through the air like fireflies. Pitch was forced out of the shadows by the intense light and Baku had taken refuge beneath some debris, her white clothes singed black.

Jack didn't let go, even when the blazing wings began to raise him into the air. Sparks flew into his eyes and stung him like yellow jackets while he could feel his hands being burned black, the smoke was choking him and his sweatshirt was on fire. Somehow, he felt like he would never be cold again. He was melting!

The phoenix shot up out of the volcano like a bullet in the barrel of a gun, frightening each and every Kirin away. The purple clouds above their heads dissipated and the remaining dream hunters launched themselves at the bird; they circled round, suffocating mist pouring out of their trunks like steam from a teapot. Between the pain in his arms and the vicious tusks and claws dragging him down Jack could barely hold on. The phoenix let out another thunderous cry as the smoke dimmed its glow; its wings were sweeping over the mountain and catching fire to the dream hunters. Their leader rose out of the crevice with a javelin of crystal in her hand. Tooth burst into the scene.

"Stay away from Jack!" She yelled, slicing her sword at the woman in white, only being blocked by the crystal blade. The two matched skill in swordplay until pitch too rose from the crater and attacked Baku with his own obsidian blade. Baku smiled and ducked beneath her opponents so that they met each other, grabbed pitches arm from behind him, and bit The Nightmare King hard in the shoulder. Pitch screamed in agony but couldn't pull himself from Baku's grip. The dream hunters smelt blood in the air and those who weren't occupied with the large fire bird rushed towards The Nightmare King. Tooth was restrained under the weight of several clawing animals as the rest rushed towards their master and their prey. But before they could reach him, they dissipated into smoke with a chorus of startled squeals; the ones harassing the phoenix suffered a similar fate by way of boomerang.

"This has been more eventful than I expected" North held out his twin swords and demolished Tooth's attackers as well before focusing his attention on Baku herself. The Dream Eater was forced to release Pitch's shoulder as the blades skimmed her hair and narrowly dodged one of Bunnymund's weapons before she launched her crystal javelin straight at the back of the fire bird.

Bunny leapt towards the phoenix and grabbed Jack around the waist, successfully pulling both him and a single plume of flame free. The phoenix was struck and shrieked in rage, sending a wild fire towards Baku before she disappeared into mist. Its cry was like a clap of thunder and the bird burst into a white hot flame which cracked the stone around it. North pulled out a snow globe and sent them all tumbling home before they were reached by the conflagration. The portal stayed open just long enough to see the Fire bird crumble into ash.

* * *

By the time they managed to pry the flaming feather from Jacks hands it was no larger than a candle flame. North quickly used a piece of paper to transfer the light blue fire into a spare oil lamp and ordered one of the Yetis to get a first aid kit for Jacks hands. With a little magic and some time they'd be good as new.

"I believe _this _is yours." Jack looked up to see Pitch holding his staff. He reached for it.

"Wait." Pitch said. "Let me start by saying that you are the biggest idiot I have ever met and I'm surprised you didn't kill yourself or any of us for that matter." Jack frowned and opened his mouth. "Let me finish. You destroyed part of a mountain, tried to defeat someone who was already stronger than you while she had an advantage, and tried to grab the tail of a _bloody _phoenix with your bare hands. I don't know whether to be embarrassed for working with somebody so insane or humiliated by the fact that you actually accomplished what we came for." It took Jack a few moments to understand the last part of Pitch's rant.

"Is this your twisted way of thanking me, Pitch?" he gave an impish grin.

"Don't push it" he mumbled, but Jack could have sworn he saw a smile on that ashen face.

"You're welcome!" he gave a mock bow.

The yeti's returned and patched up Jack's hands with a soothingly cold cream that smelt of mint while Pitch winced as he had his bite mark tended to with the disinfecting oils. The others stood only a few feet away with a message from Sandy.

North read the yellow scroll. "He requires our assistance and is ready to use the feather. I will send him a message informing him of our success."

"What about the phoenix?" Jack asked. "It's dead." The frost spirit felt guilty, despite the fact that the large bird had nearly burned his arms off.

Bunny patted Jack on the shoulder. "Don't worry, mate. Phoenix's are tough; it'll reform from the ash in a hundred years or so." Another yeti burst into the scene with an additional message and handed it to North. The large red man skimmed his eyes over it for a few moments before speaking up.

"We must find Sandy as soon as possible."

"Why? What's wrong?" Tooth asked.

"The Island of Sleepy Sand is in trouble."


End file.
